Chess for peace and understanding

10/11/2007 – For the past two years an international charity movement, "Chess – a Peace Ambassador", has been implementing exchange programs between Georgia and Catalonia. The goal is to foster friendship between peoples and nations, get participants familiar with different cultures, facilitate intellectual development and, most importantly, promote chess as a true peace ambassador. Pictorial report.

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Chess – a Peace Ambassador

Report by IM Ana Matnadze

In the summer 2006 Sopiko Guramishvili, Keti Tsatsalashvili and Salome Khazhomia,
young Georgian chess players who are members of the “Doves – CPA”
chess club, visited Catalonia together with the President of the Movement, IM
(and WGM) Ana Matnadze. They participated in the Sort International Tournament,
the Sant Gregori Blitz tournament, conducting friendly matches and enjoying
a historical sightseeing in Catalonia and Barcelona.

A similar program was implemented this year. The CPA was represented by Ana
Matnadze, WIM Sophiko Nikoladze, IM Malkhaz Sulashvili, GM David Shengelia and
the 2006 World Champions of girls under 12 and 16 years, Mariam Danelia and
Sopiko Guramishvili. They participated in La Pobla de Lillet, Poble Nou, Banyoles
and Sants (Barcelona) International tournaments, as well as in a number of cultural
events. Their participation was very successful: Sophiko Guramishvili became
an Woman International Master, and both Sophikos – Guramishvili and Nikoladze
– completed their first WGM norms. Georgian chess players are now expecting
their colleagues from Catalonia to visit Georgia.

Enjoy the photos from the visit.

Poster of the Open La Pobla de Lillet and the young World Champion’s
simultaneous session

Sopiko Guramisvili’s simultaneous exhibition

The young girls were treated like queens

Sopiko Guramishvili posing with an elephant (statue)

IM Malkhaz “Enrique” Sulashvili and GM David Shengelia
in a more daring pose

If you ever play chess with this fragile young lady, Mariam Danelia, don’t
expect any mercy

Sopiko in action – as a photographer

A live chess performance that takes place annually in La Pobla de Lillet and
in Barcelona, during Sants International Tournament

Scary: a roller coaster ride for the champions

The beautiful and famous Banyoles Lake, which has hosted the Olympics

The legendary Camp Nou stadium, where we watched the Barça vs Inter
football game

Before the game started, there was a minute of silence for Antonio Puerta,
the Spanish international midfielder who played for Sevilla FC in La Liga. Affected
with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, he died on 28 August 2007,
three days after suffering a series of cardiac arrests during a league game
against Getafe CF on 25 August 2007.

The amazing Sagrada Familia during the day [photo by Filip Maljkovic]

... and at night

Construction of La Sagrada Família ('The Holy Family'), a massive Roman
Catholic basilica, began in 1882, and it is still unfinished. Antoni Gaudí
worked on the project for over 40 years, devoting the last 15 years of his life
entirely to this endeavour. Millions of people visit the partially built basilica
every year, making it one of the most popular attractions in Spain. There are
some great detailed images of the interior of this building here.

The famous Iglesia Expiatorio del Sagrado Corazón on Tibidabo mountain

Our deepest and most sincere thanks to all those who helped to make this project
come true. We would like to thank a lot of people here, and naming all of them
would be simply impossible, starting with the Catalonia Chess Federation and
the organizers of the tournaments.

Organizers of the tournaments: the president of the International Charity
Movement “Chess – Peace Ambassador” IM Ana Matnadze and Press Speaker of the
Movement, IM Levan Aroshidze.

Anna Matnadze, 24, lives in Tiblisi, Georgia. She studied
German language and literature, and did a degree in International Journalism
at the Ivane Javakhishvili State University in Tiblisi. In chess she achieved
the titles of WFM at the age of 10, WIM at 16, WGM at 19 and IM at 23. In 2005
she was elected president of the International Charity Movement “Chess
- a Peace Ambassador”. Today she coaches, for the Catalonian Chess Federation,
players under ten years for the Spanish Championships in Linares. Anna speaks
Georgian, German, English, Russian, Spanish, Catalan and Portuguese.

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